Adhesive bandages comprising a central pad area and adjacent adhesive areas are well-known in the art and popular as first aid wound dressings. Current bandages generally comprise an elongated strip of cloth or plastic backing material coated on one surface with a pressure sensitive adhesive. A gauze or sponge pad is secured to the adhesive surface in a central location to serve as the wound cover. The wound facing surface of the pad may be plastic-coated or otherwise treated to prevent the pad from adhering to the wound. Plastic-coated release strips are placed over the adhesive areas and the entire assembly is placed in a sealed package and sterilized to be ready for use.
An alternate form of adhesive bandage, generally referred to as an island bandage, comprises a generally square, round or oval adhesive coated backing material with a centrally located pad forming an island surrounded by the adhesive surface. The adhesive surface is similarly covered by release paper before the bandage is packaged and sterilized.
The adhesive bandages of the prior art are characterized by their construction of two basic components--the adhesive coated backing material and the wound covering pad material. The pad material may be dry or impregnated with various bactericides or other wound treatment medicaments. The capacity of the pad to absorb and hold such compositions is a limiting factor on the amount of such material which may be incorporated into the bandage.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved adhesive bandage. It is a further object of this invention to provide a low cost adhesive bandage through the use of inexpensive materials and low cost manufacturing techniques. A further object of this invention is to provide an adhesive bandage having a high loading of wound treatment medicament in the pad area. These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the ensuing description and claims of the invention.